Police are hunting for the motorcyclist who shot and injured an Israeli soldier near Mt. Scopus, Monday, Aug. 4 after 4 p.m. - three hours after another Palestinian rammed his heavy excavator into a bus, tipping it over, on the main road linking west and east Jerusalem. An Israeli man was crushed to death in the first attack, which the assailant did not survive. Six others were injured. A police officer shot him dead before he used his heavy vehicle to continue the violent rampage. The Jerusalem police have been reinforced.

As Palestinian-Israeli rancor exploded in a military duel with Hamas in Gaza, the tit-for-tat murders of kidnapped teens and firebomb-rock-wielding riots by Israeli Arabs, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu presented a calm front as though everything was under control. That front is about to be severely tested. The latest DEBKA Weekly out last Friday detailed how Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) behind his peace mask is secretly stirring his people up for a fateful war on Israel. He is plotting an all-encompassing “Third Intifada” - more lethal than the first two, to place Israel in extreme peril.

A Palestinian gunman in a car opened fire on an Israeli border guard checkpoint at the Tapuach checkpoint outside Nablus before dawn Tuesday, June 3. The soldiers returned fire and killed the gunman, after one was hit in the leg. It was the second encounter in four days at the same spot between an Israeli security force and a terrorist. It occurred shortly after the US decided to work with the new Palestinian unity government, despite Israel’s concerns about the participation of the Hamas terrorist organization. This stirred "deep disappointment" in Jerusalem

Secretary of State John Kerry freely used scare tactics such as a fresh Palestinian “intifada,’ and international boycotts and isolation, to cow Israel into signing on the dotted line of the framework accord he proposes to submit to Israel and the Palestinians. debkafile: Such tactics tend to backfire as self-fulfilling prophecies - witness proliferating Palestinian terror attacks and the latest Scandinavian boycott of Israel's three largest banks for the “crime” of business on the West Bank. A small spark may easily ignite a major bonfire in this overheated climate.

The Shin Bet disclosed Wednesday, Jan. 22, that three Palestinians in custody were recruited by al Qaeda for suicide operations planned by Ayman Zuwahiri for execution with five North Caucasian terrorists arriving on fake Russian passports. The targets were the US Embassy in Tel Aviv, the Jerusalem Convention Center and Jerusalem-Maaleh Adummim buses. debkafile: It was the first time Zuwahiri took a personal hand in setting up attacks inside Israel with mixed teams from the Caucasus, the Gaza Strip, Syria and local Palestinians.

Israeli politicians, left, right and center, are resorting again to their familiar clichés in trading accusations over where ongoing negotiation with the Palestinians should or should not be going. Meanwhile, the Palestinians have other plans, the first of which is to quit peace talks with Israel. The next, come April, is to enlist 63 international organizations for a massive boycott against Israel in every sphere. This diplomatic “intifada” is expected to trigger violent Palestinian assaults from the West Bank, including possibly rockets on Israeli towns.

The rising level of Palestinian terrorism must be attributed largely to the 19 West Bank refugee camps falling into the hands of local armed militias run by a mix of terrorists, crime mobs and arms racketeers, who command big arsenals of illegal weapons, debkafile reports. The close to quarter of-a-million Palestinians living in those camps have veered out of the control of Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas and its security services. The militias’ sway is spilling over into the big Palestinian towns and the Palestinian neighborhoods of E. Jerusalem.

The newest Palestinian terrorist weapon is an Iranian copy of the Austrian single-shot Steyr 50 caliber assassin’s rifle. It was used by a trained sniper to murder Saleh Abu-Tayyel Tuesday on Dec. 24. The marksman belonged to the Hamas-commanded Popular Resistance Committees. He was assisted by a Jihad Islami scout who helped him position the 12.5 kilo, 1.37 m long rifle. IDF Master Sgt. Gal Koby, who was killed on Sept. 22 by a single shot in Hebron, may too have been the victim of a Palestinian sniper using a Steyr 50.

Surrendering to Palestinian opposition, Secretary of State John Kerry has stepped back from the US security plan for Israeli troops to guard the Jordan Valley border - in favor of US forces, debkafile reports: The Palestinians won’t grant Israeli West Bank corridors for access to the Jordan Valley. The US agrees to an express train link between the West Bank and Gaza under Palestinian control across the Israeli Negev - with no access to Israeli monitors. Still, Israel’s response to Palestinian terrorism remains low key to avoid upsetting the talks.

The Palestinian sniper who Tuesday, Dec. 24, shot dead an Israeli civilian from Gaza sent Israeli leaders into an agony of indecision over how to fight back against surging Palestinian terrorism without derailing US-sponsored Middle East peace talks. That afternoon, Israeli warplanes struck a Hamas base in Gaza, fairly mild punishment. Binyamin Netanyahu had hoped that by holding back, he could bring the talks to a successful conclusion. But he was wrong. The Palestinians ran off with the initiative of a new terrorist command center in Gaza and Istanbul.

A medium-sized bomb exploded on a Dan No. 240 bus in Bat Yam on the outskirts of Tel Aviv Monday, Dec. 22, in what the police believe is a fresh outbreak of Palestinian terrorist attacks on Israeli civilian transport. A passenger spotted an unattended bag and alerted the driver who pulled over, cleared the bus and called the police in time. A police sapper who tried to defuse the bomb slightly hurt his hand when it blew up. Police judge the incident to be terror-related for a multiple-casualty attack.

Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas plans to derail talks with Israel straight after the second batch of jailed Palestinians are freed next week. He is also unraveling longstanding counter-terrorism security cooperation with Israel by reviving the “revolving door” for detainees. Secretary of State John Kerry hopes to head off the crisis by cajoling Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, when they meet in Rome Wednesday, Oct. 23, to make Abbas an offer he can’t refuse of sovereign Israel land, namely one-third of Dead Sea territory. .

In less than a month, Palestinians have committed six acts of terror against Israeli soldiers and civilians and launched a new terror conspiracy against the Israeli population bordering the Gaza Strip. Two soldiers and a reserve colonel were murdered. Yet Israeli spokesmen deny evidence of a “connecting thread” or “a common factor.” debkafile: Hamas is highly visible as one common factor, especially after Ismail Haniya, Gaza prime minister, called on Oct. 19 for a Third Intifada. Instead of denial, the IDF needs to nip this peril in the bud.

All Saturday night and Sunday morning, Oct. 6, Israeli military forces backed by combat helicopters scoured the West Bank area between El-Bireh and the Jelazun refugee camp north of Bethel, in search of the gunman who shot the 9-year old Israeli girl Noam Glick at close range outside her home in Pesagot. Several Palestinians were injured. This attack was the third case of the Palestinians’ new “lone-wolf” terror tactic, after two soldiers were murdered on the West Bank last month. In Pesagot, the tactic was expanded to civilians.

Secretary of State John Kerry has kept a tight lid on the bubbling Palestinian stew by forbidding Israeli and Palestinian negotiators to publicly give the game away about the true state of their talks, which are stuck. This has let Kerry pretend the talks are gong well; Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu avoid giving up settlements to keep his coalition intact; and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to quietly let terrorists partly off the leash for attacks on the Israeli military. Saturday and Sunday, two soldiers were murdered by Palestinians.

Binyamin Netanyahu left his meeting with Vladimir Putin Tuesday certain that Moscow had given Assad the go-ahead for his threat to make the Syrian Golan the platform for a war of attrition against Israel with the help of Hizballah armed with advanced weapons and other proxies.

Most Palestinians groups met in Gaza City Monday night, Nov. 12, to approve a ceasefire after a three-day, 300-rocket assault on Israel. But the Salafists stayed away, instead firing 5 heavy Grad rockets against Netivot, Beersheba and Ofakim and taking delivery of a fresh load of Grads through the Sinai tunnels, assisted by Tehran’s proxy, Jihad Islam. Yet Israel, Egypt and even Hamas continued to delude themselves that a ceasefire can work - although Israel’s top command reckons it will collapse within days.

Israeli warplanes and tanks attacked Hamas and Jihad Islami positions and command posts in the Gaza Strip early Monday, Oct. 8, shortly after Palestinians loosed 55 missiles and mortar shells on the Eshkol district. No casualties caused on the Israeli side, only heavy damage to property. Israel responded forcibly after the two dominant Gazan organizations lined up with al Qaeda affiliates. Both now threaten to broaden their assaults. Jihad says the next blow will come from Lebanon.

For the first time since 2006, the Palestinian Authority’s security services on the West Bank have stopped cooperating with the IDF in operations and intelligence-sharing for countering terrorism. Arrests and interrogations of suspects, the most effective way to thwart terrorist plots, have been discontinued and replaced with the old “revolving door” tactic practiced by Yasser Arafat. Israel has accordingly upgraded its terror alert, fearing a resurgence of Palestinian terrorism.

Israel Thursday night, March 15, gave Egypt and Hamas two days to halt the five-day missile offensive from Gaza or expect IDF action against the shooters. debkafile reports that the missile operation has been taken over by a small group of Salafi Palestinians linked to al Qaeda. And Hamas leader Mahmoud A-Zahar is currently visiting Tehran and being urged by his Iranian hosts to block a ceasefire so as draw the Israeli military into a messy showdown with the Salafis.